Development of surfactant assisted spectrophotometric method for determination of selenium in waste water samples

A new, simple and highly selective method for spectrophotometric determination of selenium in waste water samples is described. Selenium(IV) oxidizes I(-) ions into I(2) which subsequently reacts with excess of I(-) ion in the acidic media to give tri-iodide ions (I(3)(-)), and it further reacts with cetylpyridinium cation (CP(+)) to give a violet colored species. The value of molar absorptivity of the ion-associate species in terms of selenium is 1.80 x 10(4) L mol(-1)cm(-1) at lambda(max) 510 nm. The detection limit of the method is 10 ng mL(-1) Se. The calibration curve is linear over 50-1000 ng mL(-1) Se with slope, intercept and co-relation coefficient of 0.23, -4.0 x 10(-4) and +0.99, respectively. None of the tested diverse ions interfered in the present method. The method has been tested for the determination of selenium in waste water samples.